Printer and slotter



March 22,1932. 5. M. LANGSTON ET-AL 1,850,801

PRINTER AND SLOTTER 7 Original Filed NOV- 12, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INENTOR Z7 Samuel .Langsiozz IT or! Jig ATTORNEYS P'atentedMar. 22, 1932UNET'ED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

SAMUEL LANGSTON', 0F WENONAH, NEW

PHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS T0 SAMUEL M. LANGSTON (30., OF CAMDEN, NEW

JERSEY, AND KARL SIEG, 0F PHILADEL- J'ERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEYPRINTER AND SLOTTER Original application filed November 12, 1930, SerialNo. 495,158. Divided and this 1931. Serial No. 553,980.

The present invention is a division of our copending application SerialNo. 495,158, filed November 12, 1930, and relates to machines for use inthe treatment of advancing sheet material, where two or more operatingmechanisms must be relatively so ad usted, that the desired registrationof operations on the sheet is obtained.

In many types of machines of this general character, it is necessary tomake frequent changes or readjustments of the operating membersinaccordance with the specific character of the product to be produced.Forinstance, in mechanisms for slotting and creasing or scoring sheetmaterial to form box blanks, it is common to provide a pair of rotarymembers between which the sheet passes to score or crease the same.along a fold line, and a second pair of coacting rotary members betweenwhich the sheet also passes to slot it on one or both ends of the creaseor creases to separate adjacent portions which are later folded to formthe ends or end flaps of the box. The position of each slot bears adefinite relationship to the crease or score line in the sheet, and thelength of the slots depends upon the size of the box being constructed.The adjustment of the relative lengths of the slots at opposite edges iseffected through the circumferential adjustment of the slotting headswith respect to the feeding mechanism or drive.

Another machine of this type in which it is I necessary to make frequentchanges or readjustments of the operating members in accordance with thespecific character of the product being produced, is a printingmechanism containing a printing cylinder which carries a type plate forprinting on one or more panels of the blank. Such printing cylinder mustbe circumferentially adjusted,

so that the printing comes in predetermined position on the blank. Incases where the printing is to be in more than one color, it iscustomary in these machines to provide two or more of these printingcylinders operating in succession on the blank These printing cylindersmust be relatively adjusted to obtain the I roper registration or"imprints on the blaii k being operated on.

applicaton filed m '30,

It is also common in certain types of machines for making box blanks, tocombine a sheet feeding mechanlsm, slotting and scoring mechanisms, andone or more printing cylinders for successive operations on the sheets.

The axial adjustment of the slotting and scoring mechanisms iscomparatively easily effected through the manipulation of readilyaccessible adjusting members when the machine is at rest, as disclosedin the Langston Patent 1,567,656, and this adjustment is not usuallychanged during the operation of the machine.

Circumfe ential adjustment of the slotting heads, and both thecircumferential and axial adjustment of the printing cylinders,particularly if two color printing is to be done, present a much moreserious problem. The

back lash in the driving gears is ordinarily such that proper andaccurate adjustment cannot be made in the first setting of the parts, Itis necessary to make a first or approximate setting, then run themachine to produce a few blanks or other sheet products, stop themachine, readjust the parts, and start again. Sometimes, several suchstoppings and readjustment are necessary before the machine will produceperfect results.

One objects of the present invention is to provide a smooth running.well balanced mechanism, by means of which a wide range ofcircumferential adjustment of the operating parts with respect to thedrive, may be easily and accurately effected while the mahilt? justmentof the operating parts in respect to the drive, the gearing being sodesigned and so mounted that in normal running, the rotating parts aresymmetrical, and'evenly balanced, whereby smooth operation and theminimum of wear and vibration are produced.

In our improved construction, the differential gearing includes anintermediate or idler shaft normally in a fixed position while themachine is operating, so that the only rotating parts are the gears andtheir shafts. Means are-sprovided for moving this differential orintermediate shaft and its gearing bodily about the axis of the gearstransmitting power to and from the gears on said shaft to effect adifferential rotation between the driving and driven gears, and acorresponding circumferential adjustment of the rotatable operatingmember with respect to the drive. Means are provided for effecting thisbodily movement in either direction, irrespective of whether the machinebe at rest or running at full speed, and by the operation of a handwheel or other part which is at rest except during adjusting movement.

If the rotatable member is a printing cylinder, it is advantageous toprovide means for effecting the axial adjustment of said printingcylinder while the machine is operating. For that purpose, a secondadjusting member is provided at the same side of the machine as theabove mention member, and which may be shifted to effect axialadjustment of the cylinder while the machine is running or at rest.

In the accompanying drawings, there are shown for purposes ofillustration, certain of many forms which the present invention mayassume, and in which Fig. 1 1s a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation ofa machine, showing several operating members which may be adjusted.

Fig.2 is a transverse section showing a form of the present inventionadapted to effect the circumferential and axial adjustment of a printingcylinder.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig 2, and I I ig. 4 is atransverse section showing part of a slotting mechanism withcircumferential adjusting means therefor.

Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

In the specific form of machine which has been selected for purposes ofillustration and to which the invention may be applied, there isprovided the usual frame structure 10 which carries a feed table 11 uponwhich may be stacked a plurality of superposed sheets between guidemembers 12. These sheets are successively fed into the machine by a feedmechanism operated by an oscillating lever 13. This mechanism may be ofthe type shown in the Langston Patent 1,150,210,

or ma be of any other suitable construction, and t erefore the detailsthereof are here omitted for the sake of simplicity.

' The sheets pass between a pair of feed rollers 14 and between twopairs of printing units, each of which includes an upper printingcylinder 16 and a lower pressure cylinder 17. Each upper printingcylinder 16 carries a type plate 18 which is inked by ink fountain rolls19. Different inks are supplied to the type plates of the differentprinting cylinders, and these plates and their cylinders are capable ofbeing so positioned that, as the cylinders operate in succession, thetwo printings produced thereby will be in desired registeredrelationship. The sheets that have been printed pass through a scoringunit 20, and then through a slotting mechanism 21 for forming slotsextending a predetermined distance from the edges of the blank, to formend-closure flaps.

In carrying out our invention, means are provided for effecting thecircumferential adjust-ment of either the printing cylinders or theslotting heads, or both, with respect to the drive. In Fig. 2, there isshown an adaptation of the present invention for the circumferential andaxial adjustment of a printing cylinder 16. For that purpose, a shaft 22is provided, one end of which is splined to the printing cylinder by akey, so as to rotate therewith. This shaft 22 is journaled in the framestructure 10, and the end of a bracket 28. The peripheral portion of thecylinder 16 may be made of wood. so that type plates may be tackedthereon in any selective position.

Fig. 4 shows the construction of the present invention as adapted forthe circumferential adjustment of the upper slotting mecha the slottingmechanism will be disposed in a predetermined position with respect tothe sides of the blank being operated upon.

In order to effect the circumferential adjustment of either the slottingheads or the printing cylinder, the shaft 22 has loosely mounted thereondouble gears 35 and 36, and has keyed or otherwise rigidly connectedthereto a ear 37 which has a different pitch diameter from the gear 36.Mounted for rotation around the shaft 22 is a bracket 38 carrying a stubshaft 10 on which is mounted double gears 41 and 42 of different pitchdiameters. The gear 41 is larger than the gear 42 and meshes with thegear 37, and the gear 42 meshes with the gear 36. The gear 'engages thedrive of the machine. During normal operations, the bracket 38 isstationary,

meshes with a worm 44 mounted in stationary brackets, and connected to ahand wheel 45, or other operating handle. By swinging the bracket 38about the shaft 22 as an axis, the two gears 41 and 42 will rotate atequal speeds around their own axis, so that they will cause the relativerotation of the gears 36 and 37, thereby causing theladvancement orretardation of the gear 37 in respect to the gear 36, and acorresponding adjustment of the printing cylinder or slotting mechanismwith respect to the drive. I

The gear 35 will be locked with the drive, and the swinging of thebracket 38 will cause the rotation of the gear 37 and the-printingcylinder or the slotting heads in respect to the drive, irrespective ofwhether the machine be operating or at rest. It is therefore seen thatwith this construction. the rapid circumferential adjustments of themembers operating on the blank can be effected without disengaging saidmembers from the drive. The parts are also so proportioned that thebracket 38 can be swung completely around the shaft 22, and may bestopped in any position. The amount of rotation of the printing cylinderor slotting heads with respect to the drive gear 35 for a given movementof the bracket 38, can be varied by properly selecting the relativesizes of the gears 41 and 42, and 36 and 37. By making a difference ofonly one tooth in the gears 41 and 42, a complete revolution of-the.bracket 38 around the shaft 22 will advance or retard the print ingcylinder or slotting-heads through an annular distance equal to'thewidth of one tooth on the gear 36. Thus, a very delicate and accurateadjustment may be secured through the movement of the bracket throughthe desired distance.

While the machine is normally operating,

the axis of the shaft 40 Will be fixed with respect to the shaft 22, andwill be locked in position by the engagement of the worm wheel with theworm. As the bracket is normally at, rest, no rotating parts areeccentric or unbalanced, and smooth running operations with minimumvibration is effected. It is only during adjusting operations that theaxis of the shaft 40 is moved with respect to the axis of rotation oftheoperating member, but this movement of the shaft 40 during adjustment isnot a part of the driving or power transmitting operation.

The independent axial adjustment of the separate slot-ting heads may beeffected by means such as shown in the Langston Patent 1,567,656.

Once the axial position of the slotting heads has been adjusted, it isnot necessary to change such adjustment during operations of themachine. However, if the invention is to be adapted for use in theadjustment of a printing cylinder, it is advantageous to proride for theaxial adjustment of said cylinder while the machine is operating. Forthat purpose, the shaft 22 is made hollow, and a rod (Fig. 2) isprovided which passes through said shaft, and which has one end thereofconnected to the cylinder 16 by a pin 61. The outer end of the rod 60carries a grooved collar 62 engaging the pins of a yoke 63 on the end ofa pivoted lever 64. A screw rod 65 having a hand wheel 66 at one endthereof has a threaded engagement with the 'bracket23, and has a pair ofcollars 67 and 68 engaging opposite sides of the lever 64 to preventaxial movement of the lever with respect to said screw rod. By rotatingthe hand wheel 66, the lever 64 may be swung in either direction, andthe rod 60 and the cylin der 16 moved endwise in either direction.

It will be noted that both the hand wheel 45 and the hand wheel 66 arenormally at rest while the machine is running, and that they are closelyadjacent to each other on the same side of the machine. Thus the machineoperator may grasp one in one hand and the other in the other hand, andadjust the machine so as to secure an accurately formed or printedproduct while the machine is running at full speed, or make suchadjustments as may be necessary from time to time as the speed of themachine may be varied, and the back lash, lost motion, torsion, or.tension of any of the driving parts is varied.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. A machine for operating on advancingsheet material, including a rotatable member for imparting to the sheeta desired characteristic, a hollow shaft connected to said rotatablemember for rotation therewith. a rod passing through said hollow shaft,and connected to said rotatable member, means for shifting said rod andsaid member ax ally. a drive gear mounted for rotation on said shaft. agear connected to said shaft, differential means for driving said secondgear from said first gear. and normally stationary means for noving saiddifferent al means bodily around the axis of said first mentioned gearfor effecting the relative rotational movement of said driving gear andsaid member while the machine is running.

2. A machine for operating on advancing sheet material, including arotatable member for imparting to the sheet a desired characteristic, adrive therefor, a hollow shaft connected to said rotatable member. forrotation therewith, a rod passing through said hollow shaft, andconnected to said rotatable member, means connected to said rod forshifting said rod and said rotatable member axially, a bracket mountedfor-rotation about said shaft, a differential gearing carried in part bysaid bracket, and for transmitting power to said shaft, and meansnormally locking said bracket against rotation, but operable to rotatethe bracket and effect circumferential adjustment of the rotatablemember with respect to the drive while the machine is operating.

3. A machine for operating on advancing sheet material, including arotatable member for imparting to the sheet a desired characteristic, ahollow shaft connected to said rotatable member for rotat on therewith,a rod passing through said hollow shaft and connected to said rotatablemember, a lever having one end connected to said rod, a screw rodconnected to said lever for swinging said lever to shift said rod andsaid member axially, a differential gearing for transmitting power tosaid shaft, and having a normally. stationary support, and means formoving said support at will while the machine is running to effectcircumferential adjustment of said member.

4. A rotary printing press having a printing cylinder, a hollow shafttherefor, a differential gearing for driving said shaft, and having anintermediate shaft, a support therefor, a rod extending through saidshaft, and a pair of handles. one for moving said shaft to adjust saidcylinder axially, and the other for moving said support around saidhollow shaft to adjust said cylinder circumferentially.

5. A machine for operating on advancing sheet material, including arotatable member for imparting to the sheet the desired characteristic,a hollow shaft connected to said rotatable member for rotationtherewith, a pair of gears on said shaft, one secured to the shaft andthe other serving as a drive and loose thereon, gearing having anormally stationary axis, for transmitting power between said gears,means for moving said axis around said shaft to rotatably adjust one ofsaid gears in respect to the other, a rod passing through said hollowshaft and connected to said rotatable member, and means for shiftingsaid rod and said rotatable member axially.

6. A machine for operating on advancing sheet material, including arotatable member for imparting to the sheet the desired characteristic,a hollow shaft connected to said rotatable member for rotationtherewith, a dri vje, a normally stationary member rotatable about theaxis of said shaft, means carried thereby for rotatably adjusting said Ishaft in respect to said drive, a rod passing through said hollow shaftand connected to said rotatable member, and means for shifting saidrotatable member axially.

7. A machine for operating on advancing sheet material, including arotatablemember for imparting to the sheet the desired characteristic, ahollow shaft connected to said rotatable member for rotation therewith,a drive, gearing for transmitting power from said drive to said shaft,means for movin a portion of said gearing bodily around sai shaft, tocircumferentially adjust said shaft with respect to said drive, a rodpassing through said hollow shaft and connected to said rotatablemember, and'means for shifting said rod and said rotatable memberaxially.

Signed at Camden, in the county of Camden and State of New Jersey, this27th day of July, 1931.

SAMUEL M. LANGSTON. KARL SIEG.

